1st Liver Transplant Patient at UCSD Dies

A middle-aged Linda Vista woman who became UC San Diego Medical Center’s first liver transplant patient in March--and later received a second transplanted liver--died Saturday of causes related to her body’s rejection of the second liver, a hospital spokeswoman said.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death, said Sheri Smith, the hospital spokeswoman. Results will be available in 5 to 10 days, Smith said.

Liver transplants are considered risky, largely because rejections of transplanted livers are commonplace and the transplant surgery itself is difficult. Only three California hospitals--at UCSD, UCLA and UC Davis--perform liver transplants, Smith said.

The victim, who had requested anonymity, had five children and was in her mid-40s. She suffered from primary biliary cirrhosis, a liver disease that was ultimately expected to prove fatal.

She received her first transplanted liver on March 9, but her body began rejecting the organ a week later. On April 5, she received another transplanted liver. Complicating matters, Smith said, was the fact that the second liver was a different blood type than the patient’s original liver, a factor that necessarily increased risk.

She had been receiving drugs designed to counter her body’s rejection of the second liver.

Meanwhile, a second liver transplant patient at UCSD remains in serious condition. The recipient, a 42-year-old North County man whose name has also been withheld, underwent surgery April 1.